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Acts 17:30-31 (NIV) – In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

It is a sad truth that we humans are really, really good at procrastinating. We put things off just as long as we can. In fact, if we can let something drop entirely, we are prone to do so. We put off going to the dentist or doctor. We wait until April 15th to send in our tax payments. We will let important things slip in favor of things we enjoy doing more. We do so, usually, to our detriment.

There’s a story about a tough, old cowhand who casually sauntered into a saloon and began drinking whiskey by the bottle. Predictably, the more he drank, the more unruly he became, shooting holes in the ceiling and floor. Everybody was afraid to take on the old cowhand. Finally, a short, mild-mannered storekeeper walked up to the unruly cowhand and said, “I’ll give you five minutes to get out of town.” The old cowhand holstered his gun, pushed the whiskey bottle away, briskly walked out, got on his horse, and rode out of town. When he left, someone asked the storekeeper what he would have done if the unruly cowhand had refused to go. “I’d have extended the deadline,” he said.

Many Christians have that concept of God: it is as though we believe that if we miss a deadline, God will simply extend it. They do not take the judgment of God seriously. That is not only foolish, it can be deadly!

Do what you need to do today and listen to God’s warnings.

PRAYER: Don’t let us fall into thinking You will extend either the deadline for our life or Your deadline for judging the world. Instead, let us heed Your warnings and live in wisdom! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Author Isak Dinesen confessed that she liked being awakened with really important news. One morning Kamante, her house help, woke her with the threat, ‘Msabu, I think you had better get up – I think God is coming.’ Ms. Dinesen wrote: ‘From the door-windows I now saw a strange phenomenon. There was a big grass-fire going on out in the hills, and the grass burning all the way from the hilltop to the plain…I stood for some time and looked at it, with Kamante watching by my side, then I began to explain the thing to him…for I thought that he had been terribly frightened. But the explanation did not seem to make much impression… ‘Well, yes,’ he said, ‘it may be so. But I thought you had better get up in case it was God coming.’”

It is hard to understand how someone could have seen the fire in the distance and have thought it was God coming. But doesn’t Scripture talk about God being a consuming fire, that He will come with flaming fire taking vengeance on those that don’t know Christ? Perhaps Kamante had heard those verses from a mission school. It doesn’t really matter where he heard it, but the key was what he felt his employer needed to do “…IN CASE it was God coming.”

Think about it. Have you ever awakened in the middle of the night when you heard a sound? What if it was God coming to your front door, or down the hallway? Just in case it was He, what would you do?

Some day God is coming again. And while Kamante seemed to think that Ms. Dinesen might have missed His coming, not a single human being is going to miss His return.

In case God were to come to your home today, what would you need to do? What would you want to try to put away in some dark old closet so He wouldn’t see it? What would you do with your spare time? How would you change your life?

Hosea 10:12 – “12 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.”

1 Peter 4:17 – “17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

PRAYER: Lord, if this is the day that You come, help us to be ready! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2011 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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